Monday, February 11, 2013

Send Email to Stop Sequestration

This post is from our friends at Coalition for Human Needs. In addition to signing the STOP THE SEQUESTRATION petition, please see below to email your Members of Congress and Senators!

On March 1, new federal cuts will begin to take effect. If nothing is done, many hundreds of thousands more will be hurt by across-the-board cuts to education, job training, home heating assistance, public health, and social services, to name only a few areas. One example: 450,000 600,000 young children and moms will lose WIC nutrition aid, even though we know WIC is associated with better child health and development. Other examples of the impact of cuts are in this White House press release. Such as: 70,000 children won't be in Head Start; 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and children will go without treatment.

Remember the new year's fiscal showdown? Congress acted at the last minute to replace two months of these cuts with a combination of revenues and other spending reductions. That's why we're now facing the March 1 deadline.

Stark Choices. The President and Senate leadership want new revenues from corporations and wealthy individuals to play a big part in replacing the mindless cuts. They - and we - don't want to substitute other harmful cuts to Medicaid, SNAP/food stamps, or other vital programs. To those in Congress who say"no more revenues," we must ask "Is protecting every single tax loophole that benefits corporations and high-income individuals a higher priority than preventing cuts that will affect health, education and job
opportunities for millions of Americans?"

To those who would protect every Pentagon program, we must ask "Would you keep funding costly and outdated weapons and equipment while cutting job training, housing, college aid, and child welfare or mental health services?"

The public made clear in November and beyond that they believed people at the
top should pay more of their share to resolve the nation's fiscal problems. Because public opinion was so strong, Congress increased revenues. That public will is still there - a new poll commissioned by Americans for Tax Fairness shows
two-thirds of voters say the richest two percent and large corporations should pay more in taxes, and oppose cuts in vital programs.

You can show that constituents not only hold those beliefs, but will tell
Congress about them. Just send this email to your senators and rep - not a heavy
lift, but pretty important!